ماشین زرد

Chapter ten

The Yellow Car

I looked at my watch. It was half past five. I was still at the police station. I’d seen Sergeant Murphy once more, during the afternoon. It hadn’t been a pleasant meeting. I hadn’t told the sergeant who I was working for. And I hadn’t told him why I’d wanted to talk to Benny Greep.

Half past five. I wondered if Helen Garfield was waiting for me at my office.

Suddenly, the door of the room opened and Sergeant Murphy came in.

‘Get out,’ he said, ‘I’ve decided to let you go. Now go before I change my mind.’

I went before Sergeant Murphy changed his mind. As I got my car out of the police garage, I wondered why Sergeant Murphy had let me go.

As I drove away from the police station, I noticed a small yellow car behind me. A minute later, I looked in the mirror again. The small yellow car was still behind me. I drove a little faster and then suddenly turned right up a narrow street.

At the end of the narrow street, I turned left and then left again. Soon, I was back on the main road. I looked in the mirror. The yellow car was still right behind me.

So that was why Sergeant Murphy had let me go. The sergeant had ordered some policemen to follow me. They were going to watch what I did and who I met.

I drove straight back to the office. As I parked the car outside, I noticed the yellow car had stopped across the road. I ran up the stairs and into my office. The door to the outer room was open, as usual, but the room was empty.

Helen Garfield wasn’t, there. But there was a letter on the table, on top of the magazines. I picked the letter up and read it.

Dear Mr. Samuel,

I came here at five o’clock and waited but you didn’t come. I must see you urgently. Meet me at has Cabanas at 11/30 tonight.

Helen Garfield.

I put the letter in my pocket and looked at my watch. It was just after six o’clock. I had five and a half hours before the meeting with Helen Garfield. There was plenty of time to go to the Mansion Building and talk to the porter.

I got into the Chrysler and drove off towards the Mansion Building. The small yellow car was still following me. As I drove, I thought about Helen Garfield’s letter.

‘Why does she want to meet me at Las Cabanas’ I asked myself. ‘In fact, how does she know about Las Cabanas at all? She says that she lives in New York.’

I would have to ask Miss Helen Garfield a few questions, the next time I saw her.

But the most important thing now was to get away from the yellow car, which was still following me. I was going to the building where Elaine Garfield lived and I didn’t want the police to know.

There were two men in the yellow car. I turned right and the yellow car followed. I stopped and the yellow car stopped. I turned the Chrysler around and the yellow car turned around. I tried to drive faster than the yellow car, but the Chrysler was too old and too slow.

I slowed down and waited until I was near the next traffic lights. Then, just as the lights were changing from green to red, I drove across them. The yellow car was too late. The lights were now red. But that didn’t stop the car. It drove straight past the red light.

Then, as I looked angrily in my mirror, something happened which made me laugh. A policeman on a motorbike drove after the yellow car.

The policeman made the driver stop, because he had driven past the red light.

I drove away as fast as possible. In my mirror, I could see the driver inside the car arguing with the policeman on the motorbike.

It was the funniest sight I had seen for a long time. I drove on towards the Manson Building, happy to have escaped. I may even have sung a little, because I was feeling so good.